IGERT trainees have access to substantial laboratory space and state-of-the-art instrumentation. Five laboratories totaling in excess of 6,000 ft2 of laboratory space are devoted solely to indoor environmental research at the Center for Energy & Environmental Resources (CEER). These collective laboratories are equipped with instrumentation needed for completing high quality research on indoor environments. The indoor air laboratories include fourteen stainless-steel environmental chambers with a spectrum of sizes (3 L to 70 m3).
Laboratories maintained by several IGERT faculty participants contain a wide range of instrumentation for analysis of gaseous pollutants, including numerous gas chromatographs equipped with MS, ECD, FID, and TCD detectors that can be used for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-VOCs, liquid chromatography systems (HPLC/UV and LC/MS) that can be employed by IGERT trainees to analyze for a wide range of indoor pollutants, including aldehydes and isocyanates. Equipment for monitoring and sampling gaseous pollutants also includes pumps and flow calibrators, samplers, anemometers, gas analyzers (including CO, CO2, NH3, O3, SF6, H2O2, and ClO2), temperature and RH measuring devices, anemometers, and data-loggers.
The laboratories described above also include a wide range of instrumentation for the measurement of indoor particles. Equipment includes a scanning mobility particle sizer and electrostatic classifier (0.001 - 1um), an aerodynamic particle sizer (0.5 - 20 um), and a laser-optical particle sizer (0.1 - 1 um), a KCl large particle generator (0.1 - 10 um, polydisperse), handheld nephelometers and condensation nuclei counters, and a fluorometer for particle deposition and surface studies. Significant equipment is devoted to building characterization, including two blower doors, two HVAC duct pressurizers, and a digital-optical microscope. An FTIR analysis system is available for composition analysis of particulate matter. Portable instrumentation, including PM2.5 personal exposure monitors (PEMs), are also available for analysis of diesel exhaust that may penetrate into buildings or vehicles.
The Large Environmental Chamber (LEC) is a research and educational facility designed for full scale tests related to indoor environmental quality. It simulates real-world environmental conditions inside of residential or commercial buildings. The control capabilities of the LEC enable various experiments where certain groups of indoor parameters such as air flow distribution and thermal parameters are controlled while other groups of parameters related to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort are measured. The LEC consists of stainless steel chamber and a state-of the art Heating Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system.
The LEC, with dimensions of 6×4.5×3m (20×15×10ft), has insulated walls with R=5.3 m2K/W (R=30 ft2 °Fh/Btu). The sealed walls isolate the chambers from external influences and provides mass and energy balance in the chamber space. One external wall has a hydronic cooling and heating system that simulates external wall/window and the rest of the chamber walls are equipped with removable electric surface heating panels. The metal frame of the chamber supports chamber partitioning as well as raised floor and suspended ceiling.
The HVAC system supports a wide range of environmental conditions. It provides up to 18 Air Changes per Hour and has a capability to operate in the range from 0 to 100% of make-up air. The air handling unit (AHU) is equipped with HEPA and carbon activated filters to control the pollutant concentration in the supply air. An automatic control system is designed to provide precise control of temperatures and relative humidity for both steady-state and variable heating/cooling loads in the chamber.
The LEC has been designed for maximum flexibility to encourage a wide variety of research and testing programs. Both the chamber and the HVAC system are reconfigurable such that various components of building environmental systems can be easily added or modified and tested.
Faculty participants in the Toxicology, Architecture, and Psychology also provide considerable resources for this IGERT program. For example, the School of Architecture maintains a rooftop façade laboratory and the department of Psychology maintains a laboratory for the study of survey methods for the indoor environment.
The College of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology houses an analytical instrumentation / mass spectrometry facility (http://www.utexas.edu/pharmacy/divisions/pharmtox/core/) whose equipment and services are readily available to IGERT students and faculty who wish to study the toxicological effects of a wide range of indoor contaminants. This facility specializes in the quantitative and qualitative analyses of biological molecules and related compounds, including protein/peptide molecular weight determination, protein identification and modification analyses, metabolite and neurotransmitter quantitation, and 8-oxo- deoxy guanosine measurements. The facility encompasses five MALDI, electrospray, and GC mass spectrometers, as well as multiple HPLC systems and related detectors, including 2D-HPLC and analytical LC with fluorescence and electrochemical detectors.
The microbiological equipment available for use by IGERT trainees include: bioaerosol samplers, micro-centrifuges, microscopes, incubators, shakers, spectrophotometers, assorted hoods, several PCR machines, a Real Time PCR machine, electrophoresis equipment, and -80C freezers. Analytical equipment including a GC/MS and an LC/MS are also available for use by the IGERT participants to delineate microbial VOCs and secondary metabolites released by fungi growing on building materials.
Ample computer resources, including CFD, statistical, and plotting software are available to all IGERT participants. There is also a significant base of laboratory and computer staff available to assist IGERT trainees with data analysis, methods development, training on equipment and equipment maintenance.
